The biggest winners of the night were French DJ collective C2C, who scooped the public choice award, which was announced live during the ceremony following an online vote to select the ‘best of the best’. A four-time winner of the World DJ Championships, C2C mix jazz, soul, blues, electro and hip-hop. Originating from Nantes, the group is comprised of four DJs – 20Syl, Greem, Pfel and Atom. Their No1 debut album, Tetra, achieved platinum (100 000) sales in France and also charted in Belgium and Switzerland.

The award ceremony featured performances by C2C and six of the other ten winners of the 2013 European Border Breakers Awards: Nabiha (Denmark), Ewert and The Two Dragons (Estonia), French Films (Finland), Dope D.O.D. (Netherlands), Amor Electro (Portugal) and Juan Zelada (Spain). There were also performances by previous EBBA winners: Saybia, Alphabeat and Katie Melua. Of Monsters and Men (Iceland), Niki and the Dove (Sweden) and Emeli Sandé (United Kingdom) sent video messages.

Hosted by British TV presenter-bandleader Jools Holland and Dutch singer-actress Birgit Schuurman, the event will be broadcast throughout Europe in the coming weeks.

Now in their tenth year, the EBBAs aim to encourage artists to make the most of the EU Single Market by appealing to audiences beyond their home country. The awards receive support from the European Union’s Culture Programme and are organized by Eurosonic Noorderslag in partnership with the European Broadcasting Union.